


Behind the Cowl

by LiamLordofTrash



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman: The Animated Series
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, F/F, F/M, M/M, Some Fluff, Some Humor, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 13:56:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17408156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiamLordofTrash/pseuds/LiamLordofTrash
Summary: Bruce Wayne is a reclusive man, who trusts next to no one, especially with his greatest secret. Until it is discovered accidentally by one of his greatest enemies, Twoface. However, Twoface takes things much differently than Bruce expected, and he discovers a chance to rekindle his relationship with childhood best friend Harvey Dent. Now they just have to keep the other rogues from finding out.This one is going to be a longer fic, but I can promise a chapter update a day. Other relationships take a back seat to Twobats. Found out Twobats is a rare pair, and that's illegal.Characters are mixes of most Batman cannons, but more heavily on Batman TAS





	1. Chapter 1

It was Harvey again. Or, better put, Harvey and Twoface. Bruce hated fighting them. He hated fighting most of the rogues, but Harvey was in his group of least favorites, along with Scarecrow, Catwoman, the Mad Hatter, and especially the Joker. Scarecrow, though it was unlikely he knew it, and his stupid fear gas triggered Bruce’s PTSD.  
He hated thinking of it that way too, but Alfred had finally put his foot down and insisted that Bruce went to therapy. He refused to tell his therapist about Batman, out of the -as he insisted to Alfred- completely logical fear that his therapist would become another member of his rogue’s gallery, but he had spoken on his childhood issues and before he knew it he was told he had PTSD. He didn’t like people psychoanalyzing him- thanks to Hugo Strange- and he didn’t know how to tell his therapist about his actual problems for a while until he explained the rogues themselves as one time off encounters everyone had in Gotham. He explained his many fear gas hallucinations as part of one with relapses, which he had heard the earlier versions of Scarecrow’s toxins did have. The therapist said Scarecrow’s toxin had acted like a PTSD related flashback, and sent him into a panic attack. With the information the therapist gave him he worked to be a better Batman, dealing with the toxin better, but he still hated Scarecrow and his ability to do that to him. The only thing he really feared about Crane was the potential, since he had been a therapist, for him to realize what he did to Bruce.  
Then was Catwoman. He hated fighting her because there was still a part of his brain that longed for a relationship with her. To his therapist Bruce described a business rival Selina, who he was pretty sure stole things, but who he had flirted with in the past and wanted to be with still. He wasn’t sure for how long he would be able to pull that lie for.  
Next was the Hatter. The moderately unsettling schtick and the way the little bastard was down right creepy didn’t phase Bruce; he had dealt with people like Zsasz without flinching. No, it was the one time the Hatter tried to be nice to him. Tetch had decided to create a fantasy land for Bruce- a mental prison which kept him stagnated, but happy. He hadn’t realized it for a long time, but when he did he was forced to make a choice. Stay in that happy place with his wife Selina and living parents and happy adopted sons and best friend Harvey in a world where someone else was Batman and he was safe or stop whoever was doing it and go back to his dark world. He went back to the world ready to beat Tetch half to death- a part of his brain wanted to kill the rogues sometimes but it was never really a line he could see himself crossing with anybody but the Joker. He demanded to know why and Tetch told him it was because he had never seen anybody as unhappy as Bruce was and he just wanted to help him and make him happy. Bruce was just happy to keep the Hatter out of his mind and inside Arkham. He belonged there.  
The list of reasons he hated fighting the Joker spanned on beyond reason and beyond the help of the therapist and Alfred. Joker had done so much to him, to his family, and thought it was all hilarious. He could barely even think about the Joker without the veins in his neck constricting.  
Then Harvey. Harvey had been his best friend and in a way Twoface had taken his best friend from him while keeping him right there. It was like Harvey was dead and alive, because he was right there, physically that was Harvey Dent, Bruce’s childhood best friend, but mentally he was Twoface. He wasn’t himself anymore, or he wasn’t always himself anymore. On the rare occasions Bruce got to see Harvey- not Twoface, Harvey- he was in Arkham, barely lucid and medicated to the point he was barely conscious. Bruce closed his eyes and breathed out. It would be fine. He could catch Twoface and send him back. It was the only thing he could do to help Harvey, even if he couldn’t save him. He crashed in through the roof, as always, and landed atop one of Harvey’s henchmen, kicking them away and running to Harvey. Most of the henchmen ran off, simply out of fear of Bruce. Harvey was robbing a bank on 22nd street, which made it incredibly obvious it was Harvey. Bruce ran up the stairs and towards Harvey.  
“Twoface,” he said in his Batman voice.  
“Batman,” growled Twoface. It was strange to hear him and see him. He looked and sounded like some other man who took over Harvey’s body. In a way, that was accurate. He had talked to the psychiatrists who dealt with Harvey as Bruce, and Harvey and Twoface- though apparently the two of them referred to Twoface as Harv- were very different people, Harv made to protect Harvey by Harvey when he was young and his father beat him. Bruce wished he could have done something, but he knew he had just been a kid when that was happening to Harvey and he couldn’t have done anything about it himself. Well, he kind of did, his therapist had told him that again and again and he was starting to think his therapist and Alfred were actually right.  
Twoface pulled the coin from his pocket, running it across his knuckles. Bruce sighed and walked towards him, starting to glare.  
“You don’t have to do this Harvey.”  
“We do have to.” He flipped the coin and caught it. Bruce pulled a batarang from his belt. “It’s fate.” Harvey aimed the gun at him and Bruce threw the batarang, knocking it out of his hand and running to Harvey and punching him. Harvey barely reacted and punched Bruce back. Bruce was always careful not to punch the burned side of Harvey. It turned out that Harvey had tendencies, when Harv, to tear at and injure that side of his body where he wasn’t burned already. Bruce had no idea what kind of injuries Harvey had there, but knew Harvey wouldn’t do it to the side that was more ‘Harvey’.  
Bruce had been so wrapped up in thought that he hadn’t even been paying attention to the fight and Harvey got one good punch in to his head and he fell back down the stairs, hitting the bottom and blacking out. 

 

Bruce had no idea where he was when he woke up and he looked around, confused. There was barely any light or noise, but he heard someone talking. Two people.  
“We can’t! We can’t hurt him, I won’t let you.”  
“What do you mean? Harvey, he’s the Bat- it doesn’t-”  
“Remember what he’s done for us? Remember all he did for us, Harv?” Bruce realized it was just Harvey, talking to himself. He had never heard that happen before, and the shrinks in Arkham had said it was incredibly unlikely they could really communicate, especially like that, but Bruce had known that they did it sometimes. He just hadn’t heard them talk that much or that directly. In that moment Bruce realized something. He wasn’t wearing his cowl. He looked at the floor and saw it. They had taken off his cowl. Harvey knew. Twoface knew. He looked up at them pacing back and forth, switching how they walked and moved quickly back and forth. He had to say something.  
“Har..vey? Harvey?” he asked, dropping the Batman voice. In that moment they faced him.  
“Bruce,” Harvey said, voice breaking slightly, going from the growl of Twoface to Harvey’s actual voice. “Dammit, Bruce, why? Why did it have to be you?”  
“Why did Twoface have to be you, Harvey?” Bruce retorted.  
“I can’t control that Bruce! I can’t stop him from existing in my head and taking over and hurting people or I would!” Harvey turned away from him, one hand furiously scratching his scalp and tearing at the burnt flesh.  
“Harvey, stop that,” Bruce said, trying to snap but almost begging.  
“You can’t tell us what to do, Bat!” snarled Twoface, before quickly backing off again.  
“What is happening with you? You never back down, Harv.”  
“It’s you! You’re tearing us apart with this,” Harvey snapped, hand going back to the arm on his burnt side, scratching open his skin, starting to bleed.  
“Harvey- wait, please- let’s talk about this,” Bruce said, standing up. It was the first time he realized he wasn’t tied down either. There was an ice-pack on his forehead, which fell to the ground as he stood. Harvey had tried to take care of him when he fell. Probably only after he realized that he was Bruce Wayne.  
“You were always there for us,” said Harvey. “When we were kids and when my father would.. When your parents.. When you were in trouble or when I was running for DA.. Even when…” Harvey touched the scarred side of his face and Bruce put a hand to his arm and pulled it away softly to keep him from scratching himself anymore. “We knew Batman would take you away from us,” Twoface hissed, voice becoming deeper and more gravely. Twoface didn’t push his hand away, but his arm felt different from Harvey’s. “But not like this.” Twoface and Harvey both had nothing to say and nearly shut down. At that moment Bruce started to worry that maybe, in that instant of them both shutting down that their third personality may show back up. He hadn’t thought about the Judge in a long time, but when Harvey and Twoface shut down completely like that sometimes they would call upon the third opinion. Harvey was aware of the Judge, but Twoface and the Judge were not aware of each other, or at least not aware that they were parts of the same person.  
“Harvey? Harv? Are you.. Alright?” asked Bruce.  
“I need a minute,” Harvey said.  
“Boss? Boss?” called one of Harv’s henchmen.  
“Go away!” snapped Harvey, forcing his voice down to try to get it close to Twoface’s.  
“Look I’m not comin’ in but uhm… some of the other big guys are here. They heard you caught the Bat.”  
“Dammit, who all is it?” asked Harvey.  
“Joker, Penguin… couple a’ others..”  
“How many is a couple?”  
“Like.. All of them.”  
“How is that a couple!?”  
“Everybody wants to see the Bat- it’s not my fault!”  
“Get out of here and stall them!”  
“Wh.. Why though? What are we even gonna do with the Bat that they wouldn’t, Boss?”  
“The Bat is ours,” Twoface snapped, slamming his hand against the door. “Get out!” The henchmen went back downstairs. Twoface turned to Bruce. “We have to get you out of here..”  
“I thought you wanted to kill me?” Bruce snarked.  
“We wanted to kill Batman but uh.. Plans have changed.”  
“So what’s your plan now?” asked Bruce.  
“Save Bruce, punch the Joker, and break Hugo Strange’s neck for trying to expose you. In that order.”  
“Don’t kill Strange.”  
“Why? Why are you so? I just.. You are incredibly frustrating Bruce.”  
“Harvey! Come on! It’s rude to leave your guests outside!” called the Joker, laughing.  
“We need to make you.. Not Batman,” Twoface said. “Here uhm.. You need to not wear that whole thing..” He said, gesturing to Bruce’s Batman suit.  
“Well then what am I gonna wear?”  
“We’re not much taller than you, just borrow one of our suits.”  
“Like that won’t look weirder than this.”  
“Bruce stop being frustrating and wear this!” he snapped, shoving him a suit. “We’re gonna throw a black trash bag out a window and yell about you escaping, but they’ll definitely come in here anyways. Shove your suit thing somewhere else,” said Twoface. “And take this.” He handed Bruce his cowl and shoved him into a side room which he figured was probably Twoface’s bedroom from the mismatched bed. That meant overall he was probably in Twoface’s lair or something similar. He grabbed their most normal suit and quickly changed clothes, shoving his Batsuit and cowl under the bed. He heard yelling and a lot of gunfire before Twoface came back. For a moment he looked just like Harvey again as he chuckled slightly and his voice returned to normal for a moment. It was just Harvey.  
“What’s that about?”  
“You’re so small Bruce,” Harvey said, squeezing the suit till it actually touched Bruce’s shoulders.  
“Look, you have huge shoulders, Harvey,” Bruce said. “You’ve always had huge shoulders.”  
“Well you look tiny,” he said. The door suddenly burst open and Harvey pulled a gun, turning towards it.  
“I can’t believe you let Batman get away!” snapped the Joker.  
“Get out of our room!” snapped Twoface.  
“Wait a minute, what is this?” the Joker asked, gesturing towards Bruce.  
“His name is Bruce,” Twoface said. “Now get outta here before we blow your head off!”  
“You were too busy with Brucey here to catch the Bat!? Did you even see Batman’s face!?” demanded the Joker. Harvey pushed him out of the room, and Bruce decided to follow him in hopes of getting the Joker away from the Batsuit. They went into the hall and Bruce stuck close to Harvey.  
“When did he get in here?” asked one of Twoface’s henchmen.  
“Don’t worry about it,” hissed Twoface.  
“Riddle me this: What’s the real reason Bruce Wayne is interested in Arkham Asylum?” asked the Riddler.  
“Can you not do that for ten minutes?” grumbled the Penguin.  
“Because he is the Batman,” Hugo Strange said.  
“Oh definitely, I obviously invited Batman into my house, bedroom, and clothes. Dumb ass. Bruce was here when Batman was,” Twoface snarled, hitting the back of Strange’s head.  
“Wait- he was in your bedroom?” Cobblepott asked.  
“Batman? No-”  
“Not Batman- Bruce Wayne.”  
“Alright, somebody expendable go find Bats, I’m interested in the Wayne drama now,” the Joker decided.  
“Expendable?” asked the Riddler.  
“Yep. The less well known. Zsasz, Tetch, Black Mask, Echo, Query, Calendar Man, and uhmmm… Anyone who’s only fought Batsy once, get the hell out of here. Go get him, I wanna know about this.”  
“Are we actually going to listen to the Joker?” asked Calendar Man.  
“What puts me on the same level as Calendar Man?” Zsasz asked.  
“While not his greatest foe, I will confess, I think Kite Man I at least best,” argued Tetch.  
“Leave,” the Joker said. They gradually trickled out, Zsasz last and with the most spite. Bruce was tense, and tried to stay next to Harvey. The remaining rogues turned towards them.  
“So what’s the deal here?” asked Harley, pointing at them both.  
“This is Harvey’s deal, not mine,” said Twoface.  
“Then let us talk to Harvey,” said the Riddler.  
“Harvey doesn’t want to talk to you,” Twoface growled.  
“Good thing we don’t need him to,” Cobblepott said. “What’s going on here, Bruce?” Bruce paused.  
“Harvey and I have known each other for a long time,” Bruce began. For once, he was surrounded by the rogues and had no idea what to do. Normally it was punch them or try to reason with them, but in that moment he wasn’t supposed to be Batman. He was Bruce Wayne, and instead of trying to abduct him for money or anything normal like that he was trying to explain why exactly he had come out of Twoface’s room wearing his clothes. They wanted drama, they wanted a story. He decided he would give them one and hope that his longstanding best friend would forgive him. Harvey would understand. “I mean I literally came out of his bedroom wearing his clothes what else do I need to explain.”  
“Where are your clothes?” Poison Ivy asked.  
“I don’t really need clothes when I come over here normally.” All the rogues except Twoface enjoyed that greatly, exclaiming various things and Joker patting Twoface on the back.  
“Normally?” asked Harley.  
“I think you’re underestimating how close Harvey and I are,” Bruce said.  
“Then why are you never seen in public together?” asked Nygma.  
“Well why aren’t most of you seen in public at all?” Bruce asked.  
“Why have we never seen you? I’m hurt,” said Harley. “I thought Harvey liked us.”  
“Look, I don’t even know everything Harvey does,” Twoface said finally.  
“Thought you’d at least know everybody Harvey does,” Cobblepott said snidely.  
“I will cook you like a Thanksgiving turkey, Cobblepott.”  
“Well you already stuffed Bruce here like one,” the Joker said.  
“Who says Harvey’s on top?” Bruce asked. All the rogues but Twoface found that hilarious as well.  
“I will kill all of you.”  
“Mathematically not, it’s incredibly unlikely that your coin would-” Nygma began.  
“We don’t have to flip on things we agree on,” interrupted Twoface.  
“Even me, Harvey?” Bruce asked, holding his arm. For once both sides of Harvey’s face were bright red.  
“What’s that?” Scarecrow asked, having stood silently for a long time.  
“What’s what, bag man?” the Joker asked.  
“Under the bed. Something black.”  
“A shadow?” Joker asked.  
“Not a shadow, you idiot,” Scarecrow said moving towards the bed. Of course the nighttime lurking bastard would see the Batman suit.  
“Don’t worry about it,” hissed Twoface, grabbing Scarecrow by the neck and lifting him off the ground. The Joker slithered past and grabbed it while Harvey choked the thinner villain. Bruce tried to stop him by grabbing his arm  
“Holy shit!” Joker exclaimed, dragging out the Batsuit. There was a pause.  
“So… There are two options,” The Riddler began. Bruce could feel his heart slamming against his ribs. They were going to find out. All his worst enemies would know he was Batman.  
“Either Bruce and Harvey’s personal life involves a Batman suit,” Scarecrow began.  
“Or there’s a whole goddamn naked Batman running around here somewhere,” the Joker finished.  
“Or Batman is Bruce Wayne!” snapped Hugo Strange.  
“Clearly not, weren’t you listening? Bat’s was here when Bruce was here,” said Harley.  
“Why do we even keep you around Hugo? You’re so stupid,” the Joker said. Hugo Strange looked like he was going to combust.  
“I’ve never seen that suit before,” said Twoface. “It’s not from here.”  
“Not ours,” Bruce confirmed.  
“So Batman’s here… but he’s naked,” The Joker said.  
“Why do you assume he doesn’t wear anything under his suit?” asked Scarecrow.  
“I don’t,” the Joker said. “And the Batsuit is skin tight.”  
“I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the outline of his Batpackage too,” Cobblepott said. “So Joker’s probably right on this.”  
“Why were you looking?” asked Nygma, in a way that seemed jealous. Bruce looked to Harvey, and Harvey understood.  
“I’ll explain it later,” Harvey said, in his own voice. Some of the ‘expendable’ villains who had been pushed out shoved back in the room, namely Zsasz, followed closely by Tetch.  
“He’s not out there,” Zsasz said.  
“Did you see a naked man?” asked the Joker.  
“Did we see what?” Zsasz asked. “That’s really specific-”  
“Specific it is, but see it we did,” Tetch began. “There was a man around the block who gave Kite Man and I a shock. He jumped from a wall of brick. Entirely nude. We saw his di-”  
“Thanks Jervis, you can stop,” Nygma interrupted.  
“Alright! He’s running naked in the streets!” declared the Joker. “Everyone come on, I gotta see a naked Batman!” Joker raced out the door, followed by Harley, who grabbed Ivy’s arm. Nygma sighed and pulled Crane and Tetch with him. Cobblepott took a long moment to get up before waddling out behind them. The others trickled out. Hugo Strange was incredibly angry as he left, snapping again that Bruce was the Bat and they were being stupid. Zsasz was last to leave, sighing something about ‘not wanting to kill Batman naked’. Bruce paused.  
“I’ll let you change into your suit,” Twoface said, stepping out of the room. Bruce changed and walked back out to Harvey’s side.  
“Thank you.. Harvey. Harv. You two,” he said.  
“Be careful, Bruce,” said Twoface.  
“I have to go, I’ve got to make sure that they don’t kill a flasher thinking he’s me.”  
“Alright,” said Twoface. Bruce left through a window, and looked back at the building.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story will start light hearted, but it's going to get darker as we go on, hope you enjoy though!

Harvey walked through the abandoned building they had set up their things in. It was kind of their home. It felt almost homey. The rogues all settled in around the abandoned buildings, but all agreed not to commit crimes there so as not to expose the others. It was like a messed up little neighborhood. Someone had even started making a newspaper of sorts and passing it through the neighborhood. He guessed it was Calendar Man, since holidays took important space in the paper, but Harv figured it was the Joker. Seemed like something he would do, try to make the place they all lived a twisted sort of normal. Harvey grabbed the newspaper anyways. The paper framed the minor discretions between the rogues like major events, but the drama was always interesting at least. He tried to avoid being in the paper himself, though Harv never seemed to care. He sat down in the half damaged chair in the middle of the room. He looked at the front page.   
Harvey Dent’s Secret Lover: Twoface goes both ways? The tacky headline was accompanied with an awfully patched together picture of his face and Bruce’s stuck on the bodies of some people from a magazine. He flipped past that. Nygma/Cobblepott wedding and divorce dates set. The mocking made Harvey wonder if Harv was right. Nygma and Cobblepott had an on and off relationship and the paper liked to mock it in any way possible, the same with anything else that was personal to the rogues. Rarely did it touch on Nora and Victor Fries however, mainly because of the backlash it received the only time it had thus far. He turned the page again. Tiny Terror to Join Gotham Rogues? Harley Quinn Pregnant! Harvey hoped that one was a joke.   
“Harvey,” a voice said behind him, making him jump. He grabbed a gun and felt himself be rolled back into his own mind as Harv took over. When he regained consciousness Bruce Wayne was in their house.   
“Bruce?” he asked.  
“Harvey?” he asked, hands in front of himself protectively. Harvey put the gun down. “It’s me. It’s Bruce.”  
“Bruce what are you doing here? It’s dangerous!”  
“The easiest way to catch some of these rogues is to be here,” he said. “And they won’t suspect anything,” he said. “I’m good at pretending.”  
“You shouldn’t have come back.”  
“I had to Harvey.”  
“Stayed away and safe for two days and then you come back,” he started murmuring to himself angrily.   
“Harvey, please, I had to see you again,” said Bruce. Harvey paused.  
“What?”  
“Harvey you were my best friend,” Bruce began. “I miss you. I miss talking to you, I miss seeing you, and I miss being near you. You said… Well I can’t remember if you said it or Harv said it, but one of you said that it felt like Batman took me away from you… Well, Harvey, it feels like Twoface has taken you away from me.” There was a pause.   
“I can’t.. I can’t just stop being-”  
“I’m not asking you to, I just want to be around you,” he said. More silence. Bruce walked closer to him and then held his hands. Harvey stood there for a moment. Then they heard knocking on the door. They both looked to the door. Harvey moved away from Bruce, releasing his hands and walked to the door. He lowered his voice, trying to make it more gravely, more like Harv’s.   
“What do you want?” he snarled.   
“Harv! Lemme in! I need to talk to you!” yelled Harley. Harvey unlocked the door and Harley pushed in, in tears. She slammed it behind her.   
“Harley what’s wrong?” Harvey asked. She pushed her way to the chair in the middle of the room and threw the paper at him, still crying. “Harley is it.. Oh.. Oh God.”  
“What’s happening?” asked Bruce. Harvey grabbed the paper and turned it to the right page and handed it to Bruce, moving between him and Harley.  
“Harley, what’s wrong?” asked Harvey. “Aren’t you happy that you’re uhh..”  
“I was but I didn’ want our child livin’ like-” she began, voice interrupted by tears. “I do with Mr. J but he won’t-” her voice was broken by sobs.   
“Harley-”  
“He won’t go to couples therapy with me and I told him I wanted to because I loved him and that I wanted our baby to be happy because I loved our baby too and he said no and he got real mad, Harvey. He got so mad.”   
“Harley, you’ve got to breath,” Bruce interrupted.   
“Bruce-”  
“Harley, look around the room,” Bruce began. “Look at the details.” Bruce pointed out cracks in the wall as he held onto her shoulder. He handed her a pillow off the ground and told her to squeeze it. “Breath in for seven seconds. Hold your breath for three. Breath out for five. Repeat.” Harvey watched as Harley did what Bruce said. Her breathing finally relaxed and she laid forwards.   
“Huh…” she said. “Grounding, huh. Where’d you learn that?”   
“From Jim Gordon when my parents were killed,” Bruce explained. Harley laughed sadly. “So what’s happening Harley?” Bruce asked.   
“Mr. J won’t go to couples therapy with me, I suggested everything I could from Arkham to trying to let Jon help to hypnotherapy with Jervis, everything. He said no.. Got..” She got close to crying again. “Got so angry with me he said he.. Didn’t want to be a part of our baby’s life. He told me I had to leave. He kicked me out and I went to Ivy like I always do.. God I’m so stupid. So so stupid,” Harley cried.   
“It’s alright, Harley, the Joker is manipulative,” said Bruce.   
“Ivy found out what happened from that stupid goddamn newspaper and kicked me out too, some rant about ‘Joker’s spawn’ and ‘making a child causing global warming’ and all that stuff… I didn’t know where to turn so I came here… If I went to Selina or Jon or Edward I’d get a lecture and I.. I came here because I just… I wanted to have support.. Just..”  
“It’s alright Harley,” Harvey said. There was more knocking, persistent knocking, frantic knocking.   
“Get lost!” Harvey yelled in Harv’s voice. There was a yelp as someone was shoved aside. Then came three hard knocks.   
“Let us in, Harvey,” came Cobblepott’s voice.   
“What do you want Oswal-”   
“We brought Harley’s shit!” snapped Cobblepott. “Went through hell for this!”   
“Let him in, Harvey,” said Harley. Bruce stayed by her side as Harvey went to the door. He opened it, finding Oswald with a few boxes and Jervis covered in various clothes, trying to keep them from falling on the ground.   
“Come in,” he said, breaking the facade.   
“Harvey? This is the longest I’ve ever seen you. It’s always Harv,” Cobblepott noted. “Harley? You alright?” he asked. “Ah. Bruce. You’re back.”  
“Bruce has been helpin’ me Oswald, I’m fine.”   
“Harley, no you’re not. You want to stay here or the Iceberg Lounge? I’ve got extra rooms, Harl, you can stay as long as you need.”  
“I.. I just don’t want Ed making.. Remarks.”  
“No one’s making a remark,” Oswald said. “I will make sure he doesn’t say a damn thing.”   
“Okay,” Harley said. “Okay. Can I.. Can I stay with you Oswald?” she asked.  
“Of course,” he said. “You don’t have to worry, I’ll make sure you and your baby are fine.”   
“Baby?” exclaimed Jervis. “You’re having a baby?”  
“Don’t you read the damn paper, Jervis?” snapped Harley, clutching the pillow.   
“It’s all full of nasty gossip,” Jervis said softly.  
“I wasn’t sure it was true myself until I heard it from Ivy,” Cobblepott said. Harley started to tear up a bit. “She’ll come around,” promised Cobblepott, putting a hand on Harley’s shoulder. His massive hand all but completely cupped Harley’s whole shoulder, but it calmed her down. There was more knocking, which was more aggressive. Harvey didn’t recognized the knocking. Harv did. He slipped back. 

“What happened?” Harvey asked, looking down at the blood on his hands.  
“He showed up,” Bruce said softly.   
“He?” asked Harvey. “I.. I can’t always remember things Harv does-”  
“The Joker. Came by. Furious. You, me, and Cobblepott beat him off,” Bruce said. “Things have gotten complicated.”  
“What? Bruce please-”  
“We knew Harley couldn’t stay at the lounge or with anybody here and uh.. I told them to take her to my house and they didn’t know how I could keep her safe. So I kind of.. Told Cobblepott and Harley.”  
“Told them?”  
“Who I am,” Bruce said. “The other me.”  
“You told them you’re Batman!?” exclaimed Harvey.   
“You’re Batman?” asked Jervis.   
“Oh God dammit of course you’re here too,” sighed Harvey. “How long have-”  
“During the fight I convinced Harley to hide instead of face the clown, and afterwards I stuck around-”  
“Why are you rhyming now?” Bruce asked. “You didn’t before.”  
“According to Arkham’s diagnosis, stress induced rhyming is part of my psychosis,” confessed Jervis. “There is not a thing in this world that stresses me quiet as much as the Bat.”   
“I affect your psychosis?” asked Bruce. Harvey put his hand on Jervis’ shoulder.   
“Calm down,” said Harvey.   
“You do it to a lot of us,” Jervis told Bruce. Bruce looked devastated.   
“Jervis, look, you can go but you’ve got to promise me something.” Harvey began.   
“Alright?”  
“You have to promise on your life that you will not tell anyone who doesn’t already know that Bruce Wayne is Batman,” said Harvey. “Which is myself, Twoface, Harley, and Cobblepott. Alright?”   
“I promise,” he said.  
“You won’t tell-”  
“Anybody,” he said. “Who doesn’t already know.”  
“Or talk about it in front of-”  
“Harvey, I’m mad, not stupid,” Jervis said.  
“Alright, get out of here, the less people Joker knows are involved in this the better,” Bruce said. Jervis quickly left, and Bruce and Harvey were alone again. “Today was… chaotic..” Bruce said.  
“Just how our life is,” Harvey said, walking to the sink and getting water out of the tap.   
“It may be chaotic but.. I’d still like to be a part of it,” said Bruce.  
“Please.. Do,” said Harvey, turning to see that Bruce had left. He washed the blood off his Harvey hand and glass, and walked back to his chair. His Harv hand crushed the newspaper as he drank his water. He hoped Bruce would come back. Though with how many people knew it might be too dangerous. He sighed, but his feet on the newspaper, and drank his water. 

Alfred was incredibly concerned by the mere idea of their new house guest, but when he explained the situation Alfred smiled.  
“You know, Master Bruce, if I may say… You have suck a tendency to pick up strays.”  
“Strays?”  
“Stray animals, children, people. You are very… caring. Despite, of course, working alone,” Alfred said, grinning. “Though I hope Ms. Quinn isn’t too much trouble.”   
“She shouldn’t be,” Bruce said.   
“Does she know?”  
“Currently.. There’s a small band of rogues who know. None of whom I par… Well I don’t like most of them.”   
“Who are they?”  
“Ms. Quinn, Harvey, uhm.. Cobblepott, and unfortunately Tetch.”  
“Hm. You dislike dealing with Dent and Tetch particularly,” Alfred noted. Bruce considered things for a moment. Then he told Alfred everything that had happened over the past three days, how Harvey figured out. How he had wanted to go back, to see Harvey again. Almost more than anything he had ever wanted. The circumstances of their first meeting made him laugh. He was equally disturbed by Jervis’ words, about how he was causing some of their issues. About the paper, the fight. All of it. There was a silence. It wasn’t uncomfortable, they had many other silences. It was nice. Just him and Alfred.   
“Alfred… I want to visit him again.”  
“Do,” Alfred said. “It’s nice to see you with your old friends again…I hope this lasts.”   
“I hope so too.”  
“Also it’s unusually light and entertaining to hear you talk about pretending to be Harvey’s lover and sending the lot of them after a flasher and angering Strange. It’s all.. A nice change. Besides that affecting their states mentally business… I think… They just properly fear you..”  
“Maybe we should be… more gentle on them.”   
“Now that you’re so far into your Batman persona I don’t think it’s a good idea to be changing things up now. You might give them whiplash.” Bruce chuckled. “Bring Master Harvey home for dinner some time,” he said. “I miss him too.” 

Perhaps bringing home Harvey for dinner was not the next idea. His house had never been so full in a long time, especially since many of his Robins had left. But of course, when he sat around a table with Alfred, Harley Quinn, Harvey, and Twoface, was the same night that Dick Grayson decided to return home for a visit.  
“Holy shit, what’s happening?” asked Dick.   
“You’re just in time for dinner Master Dick,” Alfred said. "And watch your language, I raised you better."  
“Alright but why aren’t we uhm.. Alone?” asked Dick.  
“Dick, sit down,” Bruce said, sighing. Dick did, in the seat next to Bruce.   
“So uhm..”   
“Dick… These two know I’m Batman.”  
“So that makes you a Robin,” Harley deduced, eating a roll.   
“Holy shit how-” Bruce began to explain the last week, leaving it to Harley to explain her portion. There was a distinct pause. “Having all that fun and telling everybody you’re Batman without me? I always wanted to just walk up in the middle of every single rogue and just yell ‘I’m Nightwing, suck it’-”  
“You’re Nightwing?” asked Twoface through half a mouth full of potatoes.  
“Master Harv, do not talk with a mouth full of food,” Alfred said. “I thought I taught you better than that.” Twoface hurriedly swallowed and then apologized. Bruce had never seen Twoface- notably Twoface and not Harvey- apologize.   
“How long have you two known each other?” asked Dick.  
“Since I was… Well just generally was,” said Twoface. “Ever since I started to exist.. Since Harvey needed me.”   
“Why did Harvey-”  
“Don’t,” Bruce, Harley, and Alfred said in unison.   
“Alright,” said Dick, taking a sip of wine. “So uhm… You all live here now or?”  
“We’re just visiting,” said Twoface.   
“Alright.. I’ve gotta ask you something,” Dick said to Harvey. “Is it true that Bruce slept with a stuffed animal until he was thirteen?”   
“Who told you that? Alfred-”  
“I didn’t inform him of how long you slept with Master Stuffington, only that he existed,” Alfred said casually.  
“That’s not right,” Harvey said- his normal voice coming back. His eyes softened as well, and the way he sat was different. Bruce hadn’t noticed that before. “He had the teddy bear until he was fifteen.” Alfred, Dick, and Harley chuckled a bit.   
“Betrayed by my oldest friend,” Bruce said dramatically. Dick and Alfred found it the funniest, Harley smiled, but Harvey frowned a little. They continued to banter for a while, and eventually Dick headed out on patrol. Bruce decided to clean the dishes since he hadn’t cooked, and Harvey decided to help, picking up the plates. They took them to the kitchen and started cleaning them. “Are you alright?” asked Bruce.   
“Huh?”  
“You reacted kind of weird earlier,” Bruce noted.  
“What?” Harvey asked. “Oh.. Ha. Leave it to you, Bruce.. No one else would have noted it.”   
“What’s the matter?” he asked.  
“I just.. You said that.. Dramatically and jokingly I know- but I was just reminded of how I already… betrayed you.”   
“Harvey, you didn’t betray me,” Bruce began. “You’re my best friend- you never stopped being my best friend. I just.. You’re a very different person when you’re.. Harv.”   
“I know.. That’s just kind of how.. This all works…”  
“Harvey, you know I care about you…”   
“We know you care about Harvey,” Twoface growled. Bruce looked to him. “But we know you’re the Bat.”  
“I want to help him, that doesn’t change.”  
“By getting rid of us.”  
“I just want to get you- all of you- out of this life of crime and into… I don’t know- I don’t care… You can live with me I just…I’ve been lonely since the Robins moved out or.. Worse.”  
“Worse?” asked Twoface.  
“One of my Robins, Jason Todd, was murdered. By the Joker…” There was a pause.  
“She stopped us.”  
“What?” Bruce asked.  
“She stopped us.. We heard about that...And she stopped us.”  
“She?”  
“Harley… The other guy wanted him dead so bad. I wanted him dead so bad. Harvey wanted him dead so bad. That’s the first time we all three agreed. The only thing we couldn’t agree on for a while was how to do it. Harvey wanted to bring him in, I wanted to kill him on the spot, and the Judge.. But Harley talked us out of killing the Joker there and then… I wish we had, Bruce.”  
“Why?”  
“Because along with being a protector for Harvey.. I always felt like it was my job to protect you.” 

Oswald crawled into bed, one of his penguins following him. He lifted the tiny bird onto the bed and let her curl up next to him. She started honking and Oswald sighed.  
“What’s the matter Gertrude?” he asked her, and she started honking more aggressively and lunged off the bed, towards the stairs. “Gertrude!” he yelled. He got up and followed after the little bird, heading down the stairs as quickly as he could. “What’s the matter?” he asked. More penguins emerged from wherever they had been sleeping to honk and occasionally hiss at the door. That was unusual. They didn’t honk at those who came over often and definitely didn’t hiss at anyone Oswald would want near his house. He got close to the door, and then realized who it probably was. The Joker wouldn’t be happy that he had been beat in a fight. He knew that he couldn’t beat Harvey in a fight alone- especially not considering that Bruce was probably still there- but Oswald? Oswald knew he was older than most of the rogues and he was somewhat crippled. He grabbed his umbrella gun and walked back to the door. He aimed it at the door and then opened it. Edward jumped back as Gertrude bit his ankle and the other penguins swarmed him, all trying to bite him.  
“Ah! Oswald call off the penguins!” Edward said. Of course. Edward had pissed him off, and his penguins had noticed that he was upset and associated it with Edward, and then decided to attack Edward to protect him. They were smart.   
“Alright, alright, leave him alone, babies,” Oswald said, picking up as many penguins as he could. “Shh, it’s alright.” They settled down, a few still honking at Edward. “What do you want?”   
“Look, Oswald, I’m sorry-”  
“Look, if you wanted to make up you shouldn’t have brought my mother into it-”  
“Oswald I am really, and truly sorry and I shouldn’t have done that,” he said, slipping past Oswald and into his house.  
“Edward-”  
“Please, just listen to me.” Oswald paused. “Question:-”  
“Edward stop that,” Oswald snapped, waddling away.  
“Shit- well I wanted to say that uh.. Well I was going to give you a riddle relating to penguin food and then because you’re smart you would understand it and I could tell you I brought your penguins food but they seem to be mad at me too.” Another one darted out and bit him on the ankle. “Ow! Even you, Eddie Jr?” he asked the penguin.   
“I never should have let you name one.”   
“You love Eddie Jr and you know it,” Edward said, picking up the penguin. There was a single, loud knock on the door.   
“What kind of idiot knocks like that?” Oswald asked out loud.   
“Jon.”  
“What?”  
“Scarecrow.”


	3. Chapter 3

“So,” Bruce concluded, “That’s why Selena left me again… I swear nobody’s ever gonna hook up with me.” Bruce sighed and took another drink. Twoface- no, Harv, laughed a bit. “What’s so funny to you?”  
“I know.. I know a guy who really likes you,” Harv said, drinking more and laughing more.  
“What? Who? Nobody.. Like I know people who like me but not like-”  
“Nah, nah, Bruce he’s so into you it’s just… God, you can’t tell him I told you though, alright?”   
“Alright- Alright, I wanna know.”  
“Okay- Harvey has had a thing for you forever.. He would talk about you and talk about you- Like we can’t really talk-talk but we leave little notes for each other and he writes and I write and it’s cool. He talks about you so much, and he like missed you all the time.”  
“Wait- So Harvey was interested or he uh-”  
“Harvey is still just.. I don’t know how to explain it. We found every way possible to go to any party you were at or any speech you did- even once we were a criminal and burnt we were still in the audience ninety percent of the time…” 

Jonathan also stormed in, and the penguins furiously honked at him from a distance. Oswald sighed.  
“What do you want Crane?” he asked.   
“Something is wrong. I can’t find Jervis.”  
“What? Jervis goes off and does Jervis things all the time,” Edward said. “Once you ‘lost’ him and he turned up in the dishwasher,” Edward sighed, petting Eddie Jr.   
“But he wouldn’t leave this,” Jonathan said, presenting his hat. Oswald paused for a second. Shit. He had thought for a moment out of everyone there he would be the easiest for the Joker to attack but he forgot completely about Jervis. However if he blurted that out then Edward and Jonathan would panic.   
“I mean it’s weird but it’s just a hat.”  
“To us, not to Jervis,” Jonathan argued.  
“Look, Mr. ‘God of Fear’ what do you care if Jervis is missing?” Edward asked.  
“And why come to me?” Oswald asked.  
“I didn’t come to you, I came to Edward. And for you Edward- I care where Jervis is because he may be an irritating and idiotic man but he is my irritating idiot and I don’t want something to happen to him.”  
“Well… Uhm…”   
“Uhm?” Jonathan asked, now turning his attention to Oswald.”   
“Look, something happened a couple days ago- with the Joker. Harley got kicked out of his house and Ivy’s and went to Harvey’s and Jervis and I went to get her stuff and brought it to her. Joker came and was mad and Harvey, Bruce- you know the Bruce- and I beat the shit out of the Joker while Jervis got Harley out of harm’s way.. I figured he might come after me for kicking his ass and being the weakest of the people who helped kick his ass but.. It would be a lot easier for him to do something to Jervis.”   
“We have to get to him, now,” Jonathan said.  
“Ed stay here,” Oswald yelled to him.  
“What? That’s stupid-”  
“You have no weapons, no protection, and you’re built like a twig. Edward you have to stay here and watch the penguins. You’re not allowed to go and die.  
“Question: Why would you be protective of someone you’re mad at?” asked Edward.   
“Answer: If you die I can’t yell at you.” 

It wasn’t long before Harvey was back and Bruce sat there awkwardly. He wondered if he should say anything. He had to. Harv would be mad, but he was always mad. He couldn’t help himself, he had to know. Harv was probably a little tipsy or he wouldn’t have said anything at all, so he wasn’t sure if what he had said was true. Harvey Dent, interested romantically in Bruce Wayne? There was no chance.   
“Bruce? Did Harv say something?” asked Harvey, eyes widening in fear. It looked painful on his scarred side.   
“No I just uhm.. Harvey, I gotta ask you something,” he said. “Harv’s gonna be mad at me about it though.”  
“Harv did say something,” Harvey sighed.  
“Alright, yeah but nothing bad… I just uhm.. So I was talking about my past romantic issues and he talked a little about yours-”  
“Look the thing with the Riddler was a mistake- he just wanted to make Penguin jealous and used us to-”  
“No- he didn’t mention that, but it wasn’t what I was talking about,” laughed Bruce. “He just said that at some point you were interested in me.” He turned his face away so Bruce could only see the scarred side, probably just a natural reaction but it disturbed Bruce for a moment until he moved and could see that Harvey was flustered, not upset.   
“I mean uh.. Yeah I uh.. I did- for a very long time.” Did. Unfortunate.  
“Yeah?”  
“Well I was.. I don’t know why you’d even ask about that Bruce. Everybody in Gotham had a phase were they were attracted to you.”  
“Yeah sure but… I dunno, you were like.. The first crush I ever had,” Bruce admitted. “Like when we were kids.” Harvey smiled a little.   
“I’m glad you’re not upset or anything- I never mentioned anything about it because you’re my closest friend and I just.. I just.. I didn’t want to push you away in anyway.”   
“Harvey nothing you could do would push me away.” Bruce paused. “You know… You’re still the most handsome man I’ve ever known.” He heard nothing except the grandfather clock ticking for a long time. “Are you alright Harvey?” He couldn’t see the softer, Harvey side of his face once again. Harvey’s voice broke.  
“Y-yeah I’m alright,” he said. He sounded like he was crying.  
“Harvey! Are you alright? Don’t cry,” Bruce said, reaching out to him and holding his shoulders. Harvey turned to him.  
“I’m okay- I just- I just,” Harvey began. Bruce hugged him, rubbing his shoulders softly. “I haven’t been.. I haven’t been handsome in a long time, Bruce-”   
“You’re ridiculous Harvey, you never stopped being handsome,” Bruce told him, putting a hand on each side of his face and turning Harvey’s head gently to look him eye to eye. “Not even for a moment.” The pair just sat there, Bruce suddenly realizing how close Harvey was- that it was the closest Harvey had been in years, maybe longer. The burnt side of Harvey’s face was rough under his hand, but he knew it was in a way very delicate. He rubbed his thumb over Harvey’s burnt cheek. “Does that hurt?”   
“You could never hurt me, Bruce,” Harvey said softly, leaning into the touch.


	4. Chapter 4

Oswald knew where the Joker hung around and lead Crane there quickly. He expected Crane to be more rational about it than Edward would have been but he immediately tried to break in to the building.  
“Crane!” he hissed. “What are you doing?”   
“Getting in-”  
“No, come with me, and we’ll get in reasonably,” Oswald said. “It’ll be easier this way, trust me.”  
“We don’t have time for whatever you’re doing-”   
“Look, Crane, do you want him dead or alive?” Oswald asked bluntly.  
“What?”  
“Tetch. Dead or alive.”  
“Alive you idiot-”  
“Then don’t go in there like that. If Joker’s got him that’ll make him panic and kill him or kill him just because it would be ‘funny’ to do it in front of you. We have to make this business. Killing an asset isn’t funny even to him if he thinks we also have no emotional tie to this. I know how he works I’ve done things like this before.” Crane paused for a minute before relenting and following Oswald. He knocked on the door. “Joker. Joker!” A man opened the door, who was clearly a henchman.   
“He’s busy.”  
“That’s what I wanted to talk about. I want Tetch.” The henchman paused and went back inside.  
“What do we-”  
“Shut up,” Oswald said. “He’ll be back.”   
“Hello, Mr. Cobblepott,” Joker said as he opened the door and smiling. “You wanted our friend Jervis? For what?”  
“What he does,” Oswald said. “I need some of his technology for a scheme.”  
“Well he’s a little busy-”  
“So you have him?”  
“Perhaps-”  
“How much?”  
“How much?” asked Crane and the Joker.  
“I want him, you have him, how much for him?” asked Oswald.  
“You can’t wait your turn?”  
“Whenever you have something you tend to break it,” Oswald said. “I need him unbroken.”  
“It won’t take long for me to get what I want- Jervis isn’t that strong-”  
“What do you want?” asked Oswald. “From him.”   
“I want to know Bruce Wayne’s little secret.”  
“I thought this shit was about Harley! That’s easy. He lied about the Batsuit- he was just too embarrassed to say they use it during sex,” Oswald lied.  
“Mmmm I doubt it,” said Joker. “Or why would he be so protective of this secret?”  
“How protective? It’s Jervis-” Crane began to argue.   
“I pulled all the fingernails off one of his hands and hot glued them to the other and he refused to say a thing,” the Joker said, smiling. Oswald was glad Crane wore a mask because otherwise the Joker could see how distressed he was.  
“How’s he supposed to make things for me with injured hands?” Oswald demanded.   
“I’d be more concerned about the dislocated shoulder and several breaks in his arm, but sure,” the Joker said, smiling more. “That too.”  
“Well that lowers his value a lot,” Oswald said. He looked at the boarded up glass on the Joker’s hideout to look at Crane without it being obvious. He was beyond furious, Oswald could tell by his body language. He had taken advantage of being in Arkham to look into everyone’s patient files and learn how to tell what they were thinking. He wanted to ask the Joker if it was a joke but he knew that it wasn’t. He would have joked about killing Jervis by that point, just to see what it did to Crane, but he hadn’t yet. “Is he alive?” he asked bluntly. Crane clenched his fists and subconsciously tapped the button that triggered his fear gas. It wasn’t enough to gas them, but he was considering it.  
“Well, yes, but something unusual happened and I thought it would be funny to send him through the mail.”   
“The mail?”  
“To a specific person,” he said.   
“Alright, when will he get there?” asked Oswald.  
“Why do you care?”  
“You’re stupid,” Oswald said. “You would absolutely mail him over a time where he would die of starvation or dehydration.”  
“He’ll arrive tomorrow morning,” the Joker said. “Well, this conversation is boring,” Joker said in a singsong voice. “Goodbye!” he slammed the door shut. Oswald took Crane by the arm and dragged him away.  
“This got us nothing!” snarled Crane, yanking his arm away.  
“It’s Alice you dimwit,” Oswald sighed, aggressively.   
“What?”   
“He’s sending him to Alice. It would be funny to him because she’ll feel guilty about it in some way and anything unusual with Jervis is likely Alice in Wonderland related.” Crane paused.  
“So.. What do we do?” asked Crane.  
“We go find Alice and intercept the package.” 

He laid back across the couch, petting the half head of hair Harvey still had, and gently rubbed his scalp where it wasn’t. For a long time it was quiet as they just enjoyed each others’ company. Then Bruce heard steps coming towards them. He looked around, seeing Alfred. Harvey noticed him too.   
“Master Bruce, Master Harvey, you need to get some sleep.” Bruce took Harvey to a spare bedroom. He paused, looking at Harvey.   
“Goodnight, Harvey,” he said.  
“Goodnight, Bruce,” Harvey said. Bruce went to bed and quickly fell asleep. Then he was awoken suddenly by screaming. He ran to the spare bedroom, quickly realizing it came from there. He came in to the room, and saw Alfred behind him. He knocked on the door.   
“Harvey? Harv? You alright?” he asked. He walked in gradually. “Harvey?” Harvey seemed alright. He was sitting straight up, however, and Bruce walked to his side, sitting next to him and putting an arm around his shoulders. “Harvey?”  
“I’m sorry,” Harvey said. “Just go back to sleep Bruce.”   
“Harvey, no, what happened?”   
“I just have nightmares sometimes,” he said. Bruce stayed by his side and rubbed his back. “I just…” He paused for a while. “I have nightmares about a lot of things, but this one was about uh..” He touched his face gently, on the burned side. His injury. Bruce crawled onto the bed and held Harvey as close as he could. Harvey leaned into his touch and pressed the scarred side of his face to Bruce’s chest. He could see the pain on Harvey’s face, every detail of it. Bruce realized that Harvey could have put the softer side of his face down just as easily. Bruce didn’t just happen to see the pain, the weak spot on Harvey. He had been shown it. He laid back, still holding Harvey. He wasn’t going anywhere. 

Oswald sighed. Why was he even doing all this? What did it matter to him? To Crane? Tetch was alive, it was fine from there. He would show up at Alice’s and she would call the police, of course. Oswald stopped for a moment, bent over and panting a little.  
“Come on, Jon, he’s alive, why do we have to keep running?”  
“To intercept that package!” snarled Jon.  
“Goddamn! Jon this is so much running-”  
“Oswald, please-” They both paused for a moment.  
“Please?”  
“Oswald I am not losing him because you’re a lazy bastard!”   
“You said please- Jonathan I know what you mean-”  
“What-”  
“You’re afraid Jonathan,” Oswald said. “Afraid of losing him.”  
“Oswald shut your goddamn mouth-” Oswald walked forwards. “Cobblepott I will gas you straight to hell-”   
“You’re-”  
“We’re almost there! Let’s go!” They paused again before Oswald decided to bring it up later, leaving it for the time being. They walked forwards, Oswald relying on his cane. They got to the house and started to wait outside, sitting on the ground.   
“It’ll get here eventually,” Oswald promised. 

Harley was abruptly awoken by morning sickness, and after that decided to talk to Alfred, since Bruce wasn’t up. She walked over to him.   
“Hey there A man.”  
“Alfred, please, Miss Quinzel.”  
“Then, Harley, please, Alfred.”   
“Alright, Miss Harley.”   
“Okay Alfred Man.” Alfred smirked a little.   
“So, what would you like for breakfast this morning?”  
“No, Alfred, you’re not cooking today. I am.”  
“What?” Alfred exclaimed.  
“I’m cooking us all scrambled eggs for breakfast.. Because you and Bats- er, Bruce have been so nice to me.” Alfred opened and then closed his mouth.   
“Alright.”   
Ultimately Harley had to enlist Alfred for help with the eggs, but he seemed delighted to help, like a grandfather helping a grandchild. He seemed like a grandfather. Harley liked him. He could be her child’s godfather, she decided.   
“Hmm. Unusual Master Bruce would sleep this late. Come with me for a moment Harley, I’d like to see if I’m right and have you to back me up when Bruce claims otherwise.”  
“Sure thing.” Alfred guided Harley down the hall to a guest bedroom, which he opened quietly. Bruce looked at them, slightly distraught. Harvey was laying across his chest and still very asleep.   
“How long have you been laying there?” asked Harley.  
“Hours,” said Bruce. “He’s still sleeping and I just can’t move him, he’s sleeping.”   
“Just scoot-”  
“He looks so peaceful,” Bruce said, touching his shoulders softly. Harvey didn’t move at all, still sleeping soundly on Bruce’s chest.  
“That is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen either of you do,” Harley said. “You two have to get married now, it’s legally required.”   
“He was a lawyer and I’m pretty sure he can tell you that’s not true.”  
“Well he’s asleep right now,” Harley smiled. “So until he’s awake it’s legally required.” Bruce smirked. They heard the doorbell ring. Alfred headed to the door. Harley told Bruce about the food waiting and then headed to the door too. “Don’t get too comfy there Brucey!” she called. They got to the door and saw a large box.  
“I don’t think that we ordered anything.. Could be for Master-” Then the box moved slightly. Before Alfred could tell her not to Harley got a knife from the kitchen and opened the box. “Harley be careful it could be a bomb!” he snapped. Alfred and Harley looked into the box in shock. “That’s a… That’s one of…”  
“That’s Jervis!” Harley exclaimed. She leaned in and tried to pull him out of the box but quickly realized that was a horrible idea. At least one of his arms was broken back so that he could be stuffed into the box. She drug the box into the house, accidentally dragging blood into the mansion. Alfred tried to help her get him out of the box. It took them both a while to fully realize what he was saying. Over and over he repeated the name “Bruce Wayne”. 

Oswald and Crane were still waiting. Oswald laid back on the pavement and Jonathan sat up. Eventually they heard a door open behind them. There was a small woman with a broom who walked up and hit Oswald with a broom.   
“Goddamn! What’s your problem?!”  
“Why are you sitting in my driveway?” she demanded.   
“Oh dammit, you’re Alice, right?” asked Oswald. “Look, lady, Jervis got the shit beat out of him and was shoved in a box and mailed to you, we’re here to get him.” He could feel Crane glare at him through the mask. Alice stood there for a second. She sat down next to Oswald.   
“I’ll wait too,” she said.  
“Why?” asked Crane.  
“Before things got bad, Jervis was my friend, and I still care if he’s alright.”   
“Well he’s probably not after what the Joker did.”  
“The Joker? What’d he do?” Alice asked, looking almost afraid.   
“He wants information from Tetch, tried to break it out of him.” Crane and Alice seemed worried, if Oswald was right about their body language. He sat up some and stretched. “The package will be here soon.”

Alfred was very careful in trying to remove the small man from the box. He decided to cut the box open to avoid further injuring the man. The ‘Batcave’ as Bruce called it had an xray machine in it. Alfred had learned to use it for Bruce’s sake. He tried his best to remove any possible metals from the man and Harley tried to help him. They had yet to inform Bruce or Harvey about it, but Alfred wanted Bruce to be happy for as long as possible, and that would absolutely ruin every bit of Bruce’s day, possibly longer. He just kept repeating Bruce’s name. He would tell Bruce one he got the man to stop repeating Bruce’s name.   
The man- Jervis- was paying no attention to the x ray and kept wriggling around. Alfred put a lead vest on and told Harley when to press the button so he could put Jervis in position semi forcefully. They got a fairly acceptable x ray, and while he was no radiologist he could make out two breaks and at least one fracture. It was not good.   
“That arm is ruined..”   
“Alfred, I think the.. Bruce problem is much more psychological. And with Mr. J.. I feel like Mr. J did this… I think.. God, Alfred I think this is because of me-”  
“No, Harley, stop that. This is not because of you. The Joker has no way of knowing you’re staying with Bruce and Jervis isn’t repeating your name. The Joker would make certain you blame yourself if you were the intended target of this. This has to do with Bruce.”  
“Wait.. Only the Harvs, Ozzie, Jervis, and I knew that Bruce is the Bat.. Well not counting you.. He went after Jervis because he’s the weakest person who was still in his reach, to get Bruce’s secret.”  
“Do you think he told the Joker?” Alfred asked.  
“No… I’m sure Harvey or Harv made him promise not to tell the Joker- Jervis is real particular about promises- He wouldn’t cave even if his life was on the line… But maybe he would if it wasn’t his.”  
“What?”  
“Alice. If the Joker threatened Alice- which of course he would- oh Goddammit!”  
“Well.. There’s only one person worth talking to who would know if Jervis told the Joker.. And that’s Jervis.. We’ll have to find some way to… fix him.”  
“This is psychological.. I’m not sure what to do for him though. We need to figure out how to help… Bruce Wayne….”  
“Is… Bruce Wayne-” Jervis began to repeat.   
“Wait.. Jervis you can just say it. We all know here- I know, you know, and this is Bruce’s butler, Alfred. Alfred already knows. Just sat it.”  
“Just say what?” asked Alfred.   
“Bruce Wayne is Batman!” Harley said firmly.   
“Bruce Wayne is..”  
“Bruce Wayne is Batman!” Harley repeated.   
“Batman.” Then he repeated Batman again and again.   
“Bruce Wayne is Batman!” Harley and Alfred said together.   
“Bruce Wayne is… Batman,” Jervis finally repeated.   
“Jervis? Are you-”  
“Oh God! Alice!” he exclaimed, sitting up abruptly, and then hurting himself worse.   
“Down!” Alfred insisted, firmly pressing him back. “I’m going to take care of your injuries-”  
“My injuries don’t matter- the Joker said he was going to hurt Alice!” Jervis yelped, trying to get up again.   
“You need to sit down,” Harley said. 

Alice, Jonathan, and Oswald had waited for hours. Oswald was sprawled across the sidewalk.  
“He’s not here yet.”   
“We’re missing something.”  
“Look, he’d use Alice as leverage,” Jonathan said, “But an Alice related breakdown isn’t ‘strange’ the way he said what happened was.”  
“He?”  
“The Joker,” Oswald said. “So then, genius, where is he?”   
“I have no idea,” Jonathan said. “Who do I look like to you, Eddie?”   
“Eddie? The Riddler?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Let’s ask him,” said Alice.  
“Ask Edward? No thanks.”  
“He’d never get over it.”  
“I’ll ask him then.” Alice sighed and got up. “I’m not too proud to ask the Riddler where he thinks Jervis is to keep him from dying in a box.” Jonathan quickly followed her, and Oswald forced himself up after them.   
“Alice- wait-” Jonathan said.   
“What? I don’t care. I’m going to talk to the Riddler-”   
“I’ll take you to him,” Jonathan said.   
“I’m not going anywhere if I have to walk-”  
“Get in my car then,” Alice said. “I wasn’t planning on walking either. Oswald followed her. She drove, Jonathan was in the passenger’s seat, and Oswald was in the back seat. When they finally got to the area where all the rogues lived, Oswald explained that Edward was at his home. They got there, and Oswald walked to the door first.   
“Eddie!” he called. Alice and Jonathan quickly followed. Edward opened the door, holding Eddie Jr. in his arms.   
“Oswald, Jon, and -holy shit, you’re Alice aren’t you?” Edward asked.  
“Uh, yes?”  
“Sorry, I know that sounds strange but you have no idea how long I’ve had to deal with Jervis- we were cellmates in Arkham for a while so I’ve heard a lot about you.”   
“Edward we need you to solve something for us,” Jonathan said. Edward’s eyes lit up and Oswald couldn’t help but smile. 

Edward was losing his mind. He couldn’t put together the last piece of the puzzle, and it was driving him crazy. Oswald walked to his side.  
“What does it mean? Where’s the last piece, Oswald?” asked Edward, rhetorically. Oswald paused. Then he thought about Bruce. That was it, the last piece.   
“Joker was trying to figure out Bruce’s secret, that’s why he attacked Jervis. So he sent him to Bruce,” Oswald muttered.  
“But why was Bruce’s secret so important? What is it Oswald?” Edward asked.  
“You’ll have to ask him that one.” Oswald began, “We need to get Jervis.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More sweet Bruce/ Harvey things coming soon


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the update delays, life be that way sometimes, hope you enjoy, going to post multiple chapters today to catch up

Bruce stroked Harvey’s hair and rubbed his shoulder. Gradually Harvey woke up gradually and looked at Bruce with soft eyes. Bruce pressed his forehead to Harvey’s.  
“You stayed here with me?” asked Harvey.  
“Of course, Harvey,” he said. “I’m always here for you.” Harvey closed his eyes and laid there, on Bruce’s chest. “Harvey does that hurt your face?”   
“Huh? Oh, no.. Nearly nothing does, Bruce. All my nerves have been burned through.” Bruce held Harvey, squeezing his shoulders.   
“I’m so sorry Harvey.”  
“What?” Bruce pulled Harvey slightly up, onto his chest. He took a deep breath, but still couldn’t stop his voice from shaking.   
“When we were little I promised you I’d always protect you.. And I didn’t.”  
“Bruce, I promised the same and I put you in danger.. I was the danger.”   
“We’re here together now,” Bruce said. “I can protect you.”  
“And I’ll protect you,” Harvey promised.   
“You don’t need to-”  
“Bruce, I am going to.” Bruce finally realized how close they were as Harvey was draped across Bruce’s chest, and they were nose to nose. He knew he was close to Harvey, but he was just so comfortable being with Harvey that he didn’t realize the way he was close to Harvey. He could feel Harvey breath, and realized he was breathing in sync with Bruce. Their hearts were beating in similar time. Bruce leaned in closer to Harvey, locking eyes with him. Harvey started to lean in too. Then they heard a knock on the damn door. A single, loud knock which echoed through the house.   
“We need to check on that,” Bruce sighed. Harvey sat up slightly, then leaned in and kissed Bruce on the forehead quickly before moving off the bed. Bruce leaped up and walked quickly to Harvey’s side and turned him towards him, kissing Harvey on the lips. Harvey paused for a moment before wrapping his arms around Bruce and kissing him back. They clung to each other and kissed each other, and for a moment Bruce forgot why he had even gotten out of bed. Then the knocking repeated, but louder and more persistent. Constant knocks, again and again. Bruce sighed and he and Harvey parted for a moment.  
“I guess we do have to check that.” They walked to the door together, and that was when they saw blood in the kitchen. “I’ll check the door, you check on Alfred and Harley,” Harvey said. Bruce nodded and ran to one of the hidden monitors, pulling it out from behind a picture of his parents. The only other living people than himself and Harvey where in the Batcave, but there were three of them, not two. He ran down to the Batcave, as Harvey opened the door.  
In the Batcave, Harley and Alfred were trying to fix Tetch’s shoulder, which was incredibly broken.  
“What the hell is going on?” asked Bruce.  
“It’s a long story-” Alfred began.  
“You got a bleeding Jervis in your mail, and we tried to take care of him as quickly as we could but it’s hard,” Harley explained.   
“What? What’s going on?” Bruce repeated.  
“Mr. Tetch was uhm.. Interrogated about your secret by the Joker, which is how he received these wounds. We believe he went for Mr. Tetch because of all those who are aware he is the weakest, physically. He refused to tell the Joker anything until Alice was threatened, at which point he reached a mental collapse and I would assume was deemed useless,” Alfred explained. “Then he was mailed here.”  
“Why?”  
“I think Mr. J wanted you to feel guilty about what happened to Jervis,” said Harley.  
“You’re still calling him pet names after everything he’s done? The battle against you he’s already won,” Jervis sighed.  
“What?”  
“He wants to control you and he has succeeded. Your never ending love for him is all that he needed.”  
“Jerv, you’re on thin damn ice-”  
“Well damn, Harley, seems like he’s onto something,” sighed Bruce.   
“We can talk about these things later,” Alfred said. “Where is Harvey?”   
“He’s checking the front door there was knocking-” Bruce paused. Knocking. The Joker could be back. He ran upstairs, and the others followed him. When they got to the door it wasn’t the Joker Harvey was telling he couldn’t come in, but instead, it was the Penguin, Scarecrow, the Riddler, and-  
“Alice!” Jervis exclaimed.   
“Hey! He’s alive,” the Penguin said, smiling. The other two seemed relieved.   
“Did you think he wouldn’t be?” asked who Bruce figured was Harv, and not Harvey at the moment.   
“It was a question they needed me to answer,” said the Riddler, smugly. “So I would say that’s a yes.But here’s the part of the riddle I don’t get. Why does he care so much about the secret of Bruce Wayne? What is your secret?”   
“Look, all of you come in here,” Bruce said. Bruce paused. What to do? Tell them? It was a horrible idea. They all funneled in and he guided them to the dining room table. He looked out over the group of them, took a deep breath, and took a leap of faith. “I’m Batman.” They paused and then those who didn’t already know burst into laughter. The Riddler was the first to realize the others weren’t laughing and paused.  
“You’re not bullshitting?” asked the Riddler. Everyone looked to him.  
“I am not,” Bruce said.  
“Why would you tell us?” asked Scarecrow. He hated that mask, hated that he couldn’t tell what he was thinking.   
Jonathan, could you take that mask off?” asked Bruce. There was a pause.   
“I would prefer not to.”  
“Jonathan, please,” Bruce said. “Just take the mask off. You’re here, in the home of the Batman, and my mask is off and you can see me clearly. It’s only fair.”  
“Take it off,” growled Harv.  
“Don’t force him to,” said Bruce. “I’m asking. Please, Jonathan.” Jonathan lifted a hand and grabbed his mask, pausing, and then removing it. Nothing was unusual about Jonathan’s face, but everyone stared for a moment. No one said anything, however. “I am Batman, and thus far you all are the only ones who know, along with my robins of course.”  
“There was more than one Robin!” exclaimed the Riddler.   
“Everyone knew that, Eddie,” said Crane.   
“So.. The Joker wanted to know that…”  
“Yes,” Bruce said. “That would be the secret. However he wasn’t told this. It is possible that he’ll come after more people who he knows do know the secret. That means Harley, Harvey, Oswald, myself, and Jervis- though I highly doubt that he’ll go back for Jervis. As long as you keep your mouths shut he’ll have no idea the rest of you know.”  
“And if you blab, we’ll kill ya,” hissed Harv.  
“Harv, stop that,” Bruce said.  
“Stop telling the truth?”  
“It’s a fifty fifty chance,” noted Nygma.  
“We don’t have to flip when we both agree on it.”   
“Look, I’m letting Harley stay here because she needs to, and for the time being I’ll watch after Jervis-” Alfred was the only one who didn’t seem surprised by that. “- because Arkham has an awful history with taking care of injuries and they’re bad at keeping inmates separate. The rest of you need to go and keep the whole Batman thing between us.” He noticed Harvey stand to leave and grabbed his hand, not letting him. The others moved out rather quickly, no one daring the argue with the Batman. The Penguin, who was the slowest, waved goodbye to Bruce as he closed the door. The three remaining rogues looked at Bruce.   
“I understand why Harley is here and uh.. Harvey.. But?” Jervis asked.   
“You? We’ve got to take care of that arm and those awful fingernails.” Alfred had made an attempt to set Tetch’s arm. His fingers were wrapped in bandages. The rest of his fingernails had been removed when Alfred tried to get the glue off of his fingernails. Bruce knew for a fact that Joker had sent Jervis to him so he would feel guilty for whatever reason, and it definitely worked. He felt guilty, and he had to help Jervis.   
They finally got to eat their breakfast and Harvey and Bruce insisted on washing dishes since Harley and Alfred cooked, and Jervis cleaned the table. Bruce and Harvey smiled and chatted, and not much of it mattered. It was just very comfortable.   
“Bruce, why did you make me stay?” he asked.  
“I just… really like having you here.. With me.” Harvey turned to Bruce, and Bruce touched his face softly. He smiled softly. Bruce moved an arm over his shoulders and then pulled the broader shouldered man to him, kissing him softly. The dishes were temporarily abandoned as they cuddled closer. 

Bruce didn’t like going to therapy, but it seemed somewhat necessary. He sat in the therapist’s office and took a deep breath. He had to tell her.   
“Karen, I am Batman,” he said. There was a pause. In order to prove it, he offered up a Batarang and his cowl, which he had brought with him. She looked down at it for a while.  
“Alright, this is a development,” she said. “So… the fights with..”  
“They were pretty routine… Selina was-”  
“Catwoman,” she nodded. “So what.. Made you decide to tell me?”  
“Well…” He explained the past week or so to her, finally actually being completely honest with her.  
“Bruce.. You’re making progress,” said Karen. He paused.  
“Progress?”  
“You’ve told other people, become more open about your identity with me, and you’ve rekindled your relationship with your best friend.” He paused. He hadn’t said exactly how close he and Harvey had become. She noticed it. “What else is going on with you and Harvey?”  
“I don’t know how to explain… I mean when I was younger I was always interested in Harvey- like I would say he was probably my first..childhood crush?” Bruce said. “And Harv told me Harvey felt the same way about me recently and I just.. Nothing’s official..”  
“Harv?” He paused and started to explain Harvey, Harv, and the Judge. He hadn’t seen the Judge in a long time. There was a moment when she just seemed to be processing, before she finally spoke again. “Have you talked to Harvey about all this?”  
“Huh?”  
“I’m very glad you have a new relationship and seem happy, but Harvey.. Harv.. They’re one person and they share a body and they can’t possibly separate… He’ll have to go back to jail or therapy..” Out of everything they talked about that day, that affected him most.


	6. Chapter 6

Bruce ignored the advice he remembered for months, before finally deciding it was about time. He hadn’t realized how long it had been till he really payed attention to those around him. Harley was well along, she was about seven months pregnant. Jervis’ fingernails had mostly grown back. It took around six months for fingernails to grow back, and when Harley came in she was about two months along, so it had been about five months. He heard strange knocking on the door and sighed, wondering who it was this time. He went to the door and found Poison Ivy.  
“What the hell?” he asked.   
“I’m here to talk to Harley, she’s here right?”   
“Yes, of course,” Bruce said. “But if you’re going to be belligerent, you can leave.” There was a pause.  
“I’ve come to.. Apologize.” Bruce let her in and let her talk to Harley.  
“Ivy- I don’t wanna hear about this now-” she began. Ivy walked to her.  
“Harley, I’m sorry.” Everyone in the area went quiet.   
“What?”  
“I’m sorry Harley. I was a bad friend, and I should have been there when you needed me.. I know that you’ve made more of a carbon footprint with having a child but you’ve also killed a lot of people so.. You also depleted it more than you added to it… and I wish that I had been there for you.. And if you’ll let me I’ll be there for you now.” There was a pregnant pause and then Harley ran to Ivy, hugging her tightly. They held each other close for a while. “I know this is still the safest place for you to be.. But when your child is born you two can stay with me and I’ll keep the Joker away.”   
“Thank you so much, Ivy…” They stopped and chatted with each other, and Bruce decided to visit Harvey. He walked through the house. Jervis was helping Alfred. His arm was healed pretty well, though it was still weak, and he helped Alfred make make beds and clean and cook. Alfred appreciated the help. Bruce smiled. He finally found Harvey.   
“Harvey, can we talk?” he asked.  
“Of course.”  
“Harvey… I just… we’ve been living together and sleeping together and holding each other close and being together but… Harvey this can’t last forever,” he said. Harvey looked genuinely saddened.  
“I… Bruce I… I love you and I…” He paused as well.  
“I love you too, Harvey, but I want to be with you but…” The silence was deafening. Harvey held his hands.   
“I understand… I don’t know why I ever thought for a minute any of this could last… I just love you… I just want to be with you for the rest of my life.. I wish I could go back before I ran for district attorney and just tell you and be with you and never be-” he looked down at his hands, clearly focusing on the scarred one. “This.”   
“Harvey- no it’s the crime not the scars-” Bruce said. “If you just had these scars it wouldn’t be any different from before you did… I love you, and you’re still incredibly handsome to me, you always have been-”  
“The scars are a physical representation of it.. Of the thing I’ve become of all this rage and of every one of Harv’s bad decisions I have to pay for with my time and my job and my relationships! I just want my life back!” Harvey snapped. It took him a minute to calm down. “None of this is your fault Bruce I just-”  
“You can always vent to me,” he said. “You can tell me these things. I’ll listen to you.. You’ve got every right to be upset.”  
“So do you but you’re here and you take care of me and make sure I’m alright and I just-”   
“Harvey it’s alright to have weak moments,” Bruce said, moving close to him to hold him. He kissed Harvey’s cheek, despite knowing he couldn’t feel it on the scarred side. They just held each other.   
“I don’t know what to do.. Bruce.. I don’t know what’s going to happen to our relationship… I just know that no matter what… if you’re the Dark Knight and I’m Twoface or you’re Bruce Wayne and I’m just Harvey I’ll be here for you… and I’ll love you…” They squeezed each other tightly.   
“I’ll be here for you too Harvey… forever.” 

Alfred and Harley and Harvey were all busy somehow. Alfred had things to clean, Harley had to go out for an ultrasound, and Harvey was trying to make food for them all, and Harv kept denying Bruce’s offers to help. He wandered around the house, feeling more alone than he had in a long time. Then he bumped into the only other occupant of Wayne Manor at the time.   
“Oh.. Jervis.” He still felt strange around Tetch, though Tetch seemed to be trying to do something good. He was still very much so ill, and very much so disturbing in his hallucinations and babbling, but he meant well.   
“Hello, Mr. Wayne.” An awkward silence drowned out the conversation. “I have some uh… News I think you might like,” Jervis said. Bruce felt he wouldn’t, but in the name of politeness asked anyways.  
“What is it?”   
“You’ve… Inspired me in a way… When everything is healed in my arm and hands.. I’m turning myself in.”  
“Turning? What?” Bruce asked.  
“I’ll go back to the asylum, no problems. No fights.”   
“That… is good news,” Bruce said. He smiled slightly. “I’m proud of you. I’m glad you want to get help and to be better.”  
“You just… You’ve been through so much and I just… You work so hard to be better, train so long, and do so much.. You make me want to work harder to get better.” Bruce smiled.   
“That is really good.. That is great. Thank you for telling me about that.” He wasn’t even doing the rhyming thing because he was just near Bruce. He was alright.   
“I also.. I know I’ll make mistakes but I hope not to fail.. Completely.. So hopefully I won’t need these anymore.. You might be able to do something with them.” He handed Bruce the mind control cards and the headband. Bruce felt the weight of them in his hands, and he wondered for a moment if that was really it. He wondered if that was it. Was that really the end of the Mad Hatter? Was it possible to reform his villains like that? Could they really just chose to reform? He stood up and took the cards and headband with him and for the first time in a long time he had a lot of hope. 

Knocking at the door. At that point Bruce was kind of used to it. Ivy came to visit sometimes and and other such little visits. His Robins came by to make fun of his life decisions or judge him for his lax attitude with criminals. He sighed. He opened the door and there stood the Joker. He moved back suddenly hitting a table.   
“Look, I’m done having everyone know secrets but me!” the Joker declared. “And waiting it’s funny anymore.”   
“Who’s-” Harley ran in and then saw the Joker. “Mr… J?” She walked to him immediately and he punched her directly in the stomach, and she doubled over.  
“She’s pregnant you bastard!” snarled Bruce, lunging up. He put his foot to her pregnant stomach.  
“Tell me what your secret is or I’ll kill the baby!” Bruce stood there absolutely shocked.  
“You… not even you would…”   
“I certainly-”   
“Get back or we’ll kill ya!” snarled Harv.  
“Harv! No!” Bruce snapped. “You can’t kill him. You’re not going back to jail for murder. I’m not losing you again. Harvey, not you either! Both of you, right now, promise me you won’t kill him.” There was a pause.  
“You’re ridiculous Bruce… I won’t kill him, but you’re ridiculous… I’ll beat him half to death though.”  
“It’s not that big of a deal,” Bruce said. “I’ll just tell him.”  
“Master Bruce this is dangerous-” Alfred began.   
“I am Batman. That’s my secret,” Bruce declared. For a moment everything seemed peaceful. Then the Joker kicked Harley in the stomach and charged Bruce, trying to attack him.   
“Get off him!” snarled Harv, lunging at the Joker. They fought quickly for a moment, Harv kicking the Joker and the Joker whipping out a knife and stabbing him. “Can I kill him now?” asked Harv.  
“No!” Bruce said. He took a chair and he hit the Joker with it. The Joker twisted and attacked Bruce, stabbing him in the thigh and pushing himself to his feet before stabbing him in the lower stomach. Then Harvey attacked the Joker, suddenly not seeming like himself or like Harv.   
“You will die for your crimes!” he declared. That was when Bruce realized he was having his first encounter with the Judge as Bruce Wayne.   
“Wait-” Bruce tried to get up but he couldn’t. The Batsuit supported him more when he was stabbed, and it also protected him some. He couldn’t get up. Harvey- or the Judge- attacked the Joker. The Joker stabbed him once too, but it didn’t slow the Judge. He ran to the kitchen and got a kitchen knife before the Joker could reach Bruce.   
“Why do you wanna kill the Batman?” asked Harley weakly.  
“I don’t want Batman to be dead! I just don’t want him to be a real person either! I’m not a real person! I’m a symbol, and the Bat was a symbol and Bruce Wayne ruined it!” the Joker snarled, as he engaged in a stabbing fight between himself and Harvey, as the two stabbed each other back and forth. Unfortunately, Harvey had a kitchen knife which wasn’t meant to cut human flesh the way that the Joker’s knife was and Harvey was losing. Bruce clawed his way up and Alfred ran at the Joker with a chair. The Joker tried to turn the knife on Alfred but Harvey stood between them, grasping at the Joker furiously and not letting him stab Alfred. Bruce ran to the Joker and punched him as hard as he could. For a moment Jervis walked into the room and Alfred yelled something to him and he left quickly. Bruce’s mind refused to focus on what Alfred was saying, but he hoped it was something about getting his suit or weapons. Bruce tackled the Joker and the Joker started stabbing him again and again, and then pressed the knife to his throat. “There will be another Batman!” he declared. “Not you, someone new!” snarled the Joker. “But first you have to die!”   
“You’re never hurting my family again you son of a bitch!” snarled Alfred. Bruce tried to look past the Joker but he couldn’t, and he heard a distinct sound which made him feel like his ears were being broken apart. Gunfire. The Joker slumped forwards, onto him. Dead. 

Bruce had no idea what was going on, and he wanted to know badly. He was in the hospital and couldn’t visit Harvey, couldn’t visit Harley, and couldn’t visit Alfred. He was stuck there, covered in bandages. Eventually Jim Gordon came in and talked to him.   
“Bruce, I have a question,” he said.   
“Alright?”  
“So, the Joker was shot and killed.”  
“Yes?”  
“Who did that?” Gordon asked.  
“I don’t know,” Bruce said, “I was under the Joker.” He knew for a fact it was Alfred. That was the only logical thing he had been able to think of. However he didn’t want to believe it.  
“Is it possible that he was killed by Jervis Tetch?” asked Jim.  
“He was in the room for sure… Why?”  
“The others have a consensus that during the fight Tetch got a gun and killed the Joker. His fingerprints were on the gun, and all the others agreed to it and everything adds up but.. I mean he even confessed. It’s airtight but… There was no gunshot residue on Tetch’s hands.” They sat alone and in silence for a minute. “Officially, Tetch committed the crime and is going to Arkham for it but…”  
“Unofficially…” Bruce paused. “It had to be Tetch,” Bruce said. “No one else could have.” There was another silence. “How are the others?”  
“They’ll all recover. Alfred is fine, Harley didn’t lose the baby and… Harvey was injured badly and he needs more recovery but he’s not going to die or anything drastic like that.”   
“That’s good.”  
“I think the biggest problem is.. Once again his face.”   
“What happened to his face?” asked Bruce, feeling a knot forming in his stomach.   
“It’s not worse than what already happened Bruce. You’ll be able to visit him soon I’m sure.” 

As soon as Bruce could get up and walk around the hospital, which was quickly as he healed well, he visited Harvey. Alfred had been able to visit him first, as he wasn’t injured much. When he went to see Harvey he instantly knew what Gordon had meant There was a long cut across the unscarred side of his face. Bruce walked to his side.  
“Are you alright, Harvey?” he asked softly.   
“Bruce,” he said softly, turning and smiling at Bruce. “I’m so glad you came to visit me.” Bruce walked to Harvey and sat next to him.   
“Of course Harvey.” He held the other close and leaned against him. He leaned in and kissed Harvey’s cheek. Harvey held Bruce’s hand and leaned against him.  
“I love you, Bruce,” said Harvey.  
“I love you too, Harvey.” 

Alfred told Bruce the truth. Bruce didn’t want to talk about it. Then Jason came home for a visit. They talked about other things for as long as Bruce could convince him not to mention it.  
“So.. Did you actually… Kill the son of a bitch?” asked Jason.  
“Well, Tetch killed him-”  
“The fuck he did,” Jason said, leaning back. “I don’t believe it at all. So.. Was it you?”  
“No,” said Bruce. “I didn’t.”  
“So.. Harley?”  
“No,” said Bruce.  
“Harvey?” asked Jason. “You know how much I’ll appreciate whoever did it doing it.”   
“I did it Master Jason,” said Alfred. There was a pause.  
“No shit?” Jason asked.  
“I killed him,” Alfred said. “Genuinely. I told Tetch to fetch the gun when he nearly killed Master Bruce.”   
“Alfred, you’re the best,” he said. “You are seriously awesome.” Jason hugged Alfred close. Bruce smiled and stood up, walking to them and holding them both close. They all just stood there for a moment.   
That same day they got a call, which made Alfred even more proud. It was from Harley. She was going well, and her baby had been born. It was a little boy, and instead of the expected something pertaining to the Joker she picked a name she said made her happier.   
“You’re never gonna guess his name,” she said.  
“What is it?” Alfred asked.   
“Alfred!” she exclaimed. They all pause and looked back and forth between each other.  
“I’m flattered, but uhm… I expected you would be rather… upset with me.”  
“I was for a while Al but… I … Realized you saved me and my baby.. And… Now that he’s nearly killed me and… I just.. Realized what he was doing to me and how much he hurt me…”   
“I’m so glad you’re doing so well,” he said, and Bruce saw Alfred tear up on the phone. It warmed his heart.  
“I’m glad Alfred had the balls to do it,” Jason mumbled. “For everyone’s sake.”  
“You’re right Jason,” Bruce said.  
“What?”  
“The Joker… pushed things much too far.. I regret not killing him after what he did to you.” Jason and Bruce stood there for a moment. Jason didn’t say anything, but Bruce knew what it meant to him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry to everyone that this took so long, but life kind of sidelined all my plans. Could be multiple chapters but I'm giving it to you as one instead, to wrap everything up.

Bruce was sitting in his kitchen normally. Then, and suddenly, his home was entered by Twoface. He had used the spare key Bruce left for him. Bruce turned and smiled.  
“Oh no,” he said, smiling and with none of the hint of terror he should have in his voice.  
“Ah. Mr. Wayne,” Harvey said, fakely dramatic. “You’re kidnapped.”  
“Oh no,” Bruce said.   
“Am I kidnapped Master Harvey?” asked Alfred.  
“Absolutely.”   
“Aw, cool, can I be kidnapped?” called Dick.   
“Sure,” Harvey called back. Harvey sat next to Bruce and wrapped an arm over him, kissing his cheek. The two of them cuddled and Bruce kissed Harvey back. For a moment it was bliss. Then he remembered that Harvey would have to leave, go be Twoface again and be gone.   
“Harvey.. Can we talk for a minute?”   
“Of course.” He pulled the man aside and took a deep breath.  
“Harvey… I can’t keep doing this.”  
“What?” Harvey asked.  
“This is what ruined my relationship with Selina- the constant back and forth the lack of commitment.. You’re more commited than she ever was but.. I can’t just think that you’re going to leave and be Twoface and I’ll be here… I just want a normal life with you.” Harvey paused.  
“Bruce… We… It’s not just my choice it’s…”  
“You and Harv’s.. I understand.”  
“We’ll talk about it,” Harvey said. Bruce sighed and left, going to the main room again. They tried to act normally and talk normally but Bruce was somewhat sad. He just wanted a normal life with Harvey.   
After they watched a movie, Harvey wanted to talk again. He pulled Bruce aside.  
“You love him a lot,” said Harv. Bruce hadn’t realized it was him at first but it was definitely not Harvey or the Judge. “And he loves you a lot.. If you wanna get rid of.. It then you two can, I won’t argue against it.”  
“Get rid of it?” asked Bruce. Harv gestured towards the burnt side of his face and the scar. “That’s not what I meant at all, Harv!” Bruce said, startled. “I meant the crime part not the facial scars, I don’t care about the scars… I mean if you wanted it gone I would absolutely help you pay for plastic surgery.”  
“Harvey does, I know… He feels like… He just hates them..”  
“I’ll absolutely help with that, but I also don’t care if you have them. They don’t bother me at all,” he said, touching his face softly.   
“I’ll cut the crime,” said Harv.  
“Cut it or?”  
“I mean I’ll knock my shit off,” Harv said.  
“Really?” asked Bruce.   
“I just wanted to protect, Harvey, ever since I first came around…” Harv began. “But sometimes I’ve got to… To back off and let Harvey be happy instead of safe.”   
“Thank you Harv.”

Bruce hadn’t seen Harvey for a month after that. He sat back in his chair, watching rain fall against the massive gothic windows of his mansion. He sighed, closing his eyes.  
“So.. How are things with Harvey?” asked Selina. Bruce turned in the chair to face her.   
“You know how things are,” Bruce sighed.   
“I wish there was a way to for us to change,” Selina said, “But there really isn’t. I couldn’t change for you. And he won’t either.” Bruce laid back, turning away from Selina. He hoped she was wrong. He really hoped she was. But he wasn’t certain of it. Where was Harvey? Could he even change. He closed his eyes and leaned back, sighing. Of course he had been too trusting in Harvey again. He was always that way. He had loved Harvey for so long, and he missed him before and missed then. He sighed again.   
“I just want to be happy,” Bruce said.  
“I want you to be happy, Bruce,” Selina said. “But you need to find someone who’s not in crime.”

 

Bruce tried to keep his mind off of Harvey, Selina, and the rest of the criminals. However, his life never went the way he wanted. This time, it was good news, though. The Joker’s death had been deemed self-defense, and the defense of others, so Tetch was sent back to Arkham instead of prison. He had gotten out of Arkham recently, deemed sane. It was incredibly unlikely with a criminal record like Tetch’s he would get hired anywhere. Then he’d turn back to a life of crime and all that work would be undone. So Bruce decided to find him and hire Tetch himself. He didn’t want Alfred to feel bad about what happened to Tetch either. He made sure, however to get Tetch a job here he wouldn’t be interacting with people for a while.   
“Thank you so much Mr. Wayne-” Tetch began.  
“It’s alright, Jervis,” Bruce said. “And uh… Thank you.”   
He hoped that it would last, that Tetch was going to be permanently stable, but after what happened with Selina and Harvey, he wasn’t sure. 

He heard someone jiggle the door knob of his home and was confused. He turned to the door. Bruce walked to the door and opened it, shocked to see Harvey standing here.   
“Harvey, where the hell have you been?” Bruce demanded, glaring at the other. Harvey handed Bruce a paper.  
“Arkham,” he explained.  
“Why didn’t I hear from you? You could have called, you could have-”  
“Bruce, I know I haven’t talked to you in a long time, and I am sorry, but.. I had to fix myself first..”   
“First?”  
“Bruce, I love you and I wanted to be worthy of your love,” Harvey said. “I had to work on myself… become the master of my own fate,” Harvey said, placing something smooth in Bruce’s hand. Bruce looked down at it and for a moment he was shocked.   
“Your… Quarter?” asked Bruce. He paused, turning it over in his hand. “Do you really.. Not need it anymore?”   
“I.. I don’t think so.. I might make mistakes I might stumble but I’ve gone really far Bruce..”   
“So..” Bruce paused. “Can you… choose? On your own?”  
“I’ve gotten here, I’ve given you my quarter and..” Harvey took a deep breath. “Bruce this is uh.. Kind of sudden I guess but I lived with you for so long when we were young and I’ve wanted to be with you since we were young… And I just.. I don’t want to let you go and I especially don’t want to lose you to Selina.. Bruce I can’t offer you much but…” Harvey dropped down on one knee and his scarred hand searched his pocket. Bruce looked down at him, absolutely shocked.   
“Harvey.. What are..?” Bruce began.  
“I can’t find it give me a minu-” he began, checking his other pocket. He found it. “Damnit, I think Harv must have put it in our other pocket,” Harvey said, chuckling. He pulled an old silver ring out of his pocket and presented it to Bruce. “Bruce, I know this is crazy but I uh.. I had to ask. Would you uhm.. Marry me?” Bruce just looked down at him.  
“You just show up after a month, give me your quarter and ask me to marry you?” asked Bruce.  
“Yes?” Harvey said, nervousness rising in his voice.  
“Harvey… Absolutely!” Bruce yelled.  
“You’re perfect for each other. Neither of you seems capable of anything rational,” Alfred said, smiling.   
“That means congratulations,” Bruce told Harvey.  
“Thank you, Alfred.” 

Bruce had an arm wrapped around Harvey as he pulled out a photobook. He starting flipping through pages, showing Harvey Dick when he was young.  
“I gotta tell you about my kids,” Bruce said. “They’re just the most important thing to me.” He told Harvey everything he could about Dick, and how he became Nightwing, and then about Jason and his death and resurrection as the Redhood, and then about Tim Drake, and Barbara Gordon, and Stephanie Brown, and Cassandra Cain, and then about his biological son, Damian Wayne. The others had their own lives and were off doing their on things, but Damien had gone off to train with another set of Teen Titans. Bruce smiled, remembering when Dick had been a Titan.   
“That explains so much.”  
“What?”  
“We always knew there was more than one Robin, beyond just the male and female one, but we never knew how many kids you had,” Harvey said, starting to laugh. “Also why Alfred said that you collect strays. Bruce you have so many kids.”   
“I know.”   
“You are just so… You’re so loving Mr. ‘I am the night’,” Harvey said, laying over on Bruce.   
“Hey Harvey,” Bruce began.  
“Yeah?”   
“Are you thinking Mr. and Mr. Dent, Mr. and Mr. Wayne, or like Wayne-Dent or Dent-Wayne?” asked Bruce.   
“Any of them,” Harvey said. “I don’t care.”   
“Mr. and Mr. Wayne would be useful in the context of Wayne Enterprise being run by Bruce Wayne,” Alfred noted.   
“Alfred has a good point,” Harvey agreed.   
“Hm, Bruce and Harvey Wayne,” Bruce said softly. It seemed so unreal, as if it was a dream and he was about to wake up. He held tight to Harvey. He felt real, solid, and everything was so real Bruce refused to believe it was a dream. He held Harvey and put his head on Harvey’s shoulder. He closed his eyes for a minute, and opened them, and Harvey was still there. Bruce sighed. It was alright. He was happy, and it was real. He was really happy. 

Harvey and Bruce had to go shopping for suits, as the wedding was fast approaching. Harvey didn’t care about the details of suit colors or location. He was just happy to be with Bruce. But he noticed something as they tried more suits. None of them looked even remotely acceptable on Harvey, but of course everything looked wonderful on Bruce. He sighed. Why did he have to be so..? He realized what it was. It was his face. He turned to the side, looking at the side that was for the most part unscarred. He closed his eyes for a moment. It looked fine when his scars weren’t there. Why did he have to look like that? He closed his eyes tighter, looking back at the mirror straight on. He paused. It was his face. It was his scarred face. He took a deep breath. He would just tell Bruce to pick whatever suit he wanted Harvey in, Harvey would still look the same. He was still scarred still so-  
“Handsome,” Bruce said.  
“Huh?” Harvey asked. He hadn’t been paying attention to what Bruce had said about it, too wrapped up in his own thoughts.   
“You’re so handsome, Harvey,” Bruce said. Harvey gritted his teeth a little.  
“Thank you Bruce, but-”   
“But nothing Harvey,” Bruce said. “You’re a very handsome man.”   
“You’re so sweet Bruce..”   
“It’s the truth.”   
“It’s really…” he began softly. “Not.”   
“What?” asked Bruce. “Harvey you’ve always been handsome, everyone knows that.”  
“I.. I was,” he said softly. He didn’t want to make a scene in the suit shop. He flinched slightly, hand going up to his face on reflex. Bruce flinched a little too. Neither of them spoke about it until they got back home.  
“Harvey.. Your face… it’s not that… does it still bother you like that?” Harvey paused. He nodded. “Harvey.. I didn’t know- it doesn’t make me.. I don’t mind it.. You’re still so handsome Harvey, it doesn’t make you any less…”   
“It’s just a constant reminder of being Twoface.. I just don’t.. I don’t feel like I’m Harvey…” Bruce held him tight.   
“Harvey.. Do you want to…” Bruce paused, looking away from him. “Harvey do you want to get plastic surgery?” Harvey paused.   
“I.. It’s fine Bruce I just-”  
“Harvey don’t worry about money- I know you are don’t say you aren’t- but Harvey I have so, so much money. I’ll make more and more money. All I want is to make you happy, and make Alfred happy, and make sure all my kids are happy, and I just want to take care of you all and make sure you’re all happy and healthy. Harvey, you’re not comfortable with your own face and that’s not good… Harvey I don’t have any problem with your face, I think you’re handsome, even more handsome than I am and I’ve had my ego stroked by newspapers for a long time. But Harvey if you’re not comfortable with your face then that’s a problem.” Harvey paused.  
“I.. I can’t see myself as anything but.. I see myself.. I’m Twoface, and everyone but you still sees it, and it’s my face. It’s.. It’s not my face… My face isn’t my face it’s Twoface’s and no one sees Harvey Dent they see Twoface and I.. I don’t want.. I’m not Twoface anymore and I don’t want to be seen as him… I’m not him. I don’t want to be him. Harv’s not even Twoface! Twoface is just a sum of the worst parts of both of us and I don’t.. I can’t deal with looking in the mirror and seeing him… And not seeing me.. And I just can’t.. I… I.. I don’t want to look back at my wedding photos.. Our wedding photos and see him.” Bruce held Harvey tight to his chest. Suddenly Harvey pulled away and Bruce realized he was taking with Harv.  
“Bruce, I know he just had the big sad blow out- we’re co conscious a lot of the time now, but Harvey isn’t even admitting how bad this whole situation,” Harv said, gesturing to the scarred side of his face. “This messes him up, like daily. Get it fixed Bruce I believe in you.” 

The doctor was confident he could reconstruct Harvey’s face, but he knew there would still be some scars. Harvey didn’t mind, he was quietly overjoyed that it could be fixed at all, that he wouldn’t have to live with that mess forever. Bruce, however, was worried. He sat next to Harvey’s bedside. They put marks across Harvey’s face, Bruce flinching all the while.   
“Bruce, I don’t have any nerve endings left there.. It doesn’t hurt.” Bruce flinched anyways. Harv stayed quiet as they did it. Harvey was given anesthetic and Bruce held his hand as Harvey drifted to sleep. Harvey was wheeled into the surgery bay. Bruce sat and waited for a long time for Harvey, counting every minute. Dick and Tim kept messaging him telling him to calm down, while Barbra sent him only one, actually calming message with statistics about healing and how to help Harvey post-opt. He tried to calm down. He waited and waited. Until finally Harvey was conscious again. He reached up and touched Bruce’s face.  
“He’s still a bit out of it, and we won’t be able to remove the bandages for five to seven days, and then it’ll be about day fifteen before this is completely healed.” The doctor gave Bruce medications, and explained everything, and Bruce tried to remember all of it. Harvey had to stay for a few hours, and Bruce helped him to stand. They made sure Harvey could walk around and was alright before he was released. Bruce took Harvey home, and when he got there he had a surprise.   
“Master Bruce uh-” Alfred began.  
“What’s he doing here father?” asked Damian, standing between Alfred and Bruce and Harvey protectively.  
“Damien, I told you about Harvey,” said Bruce.  
“Well…” Damian searched for words. He crossed his arms and glared at Harvey. Harvey was still too out of it to know. Bruce settled Harvey on the couch and Damian sat on the other end of the couch, Bruce between him and Harvey. Damian kept looking at him.   
“What’s wrong Damian?” asked Bruce.  
“I don’t like him.”  
“Why?” asked Bruce, holding Harvey’s hand.  
“Master Damian is jealous,” Alfred said.  
“No I am not,” Damian argued.   
“Damian,” Bruce began. “I’m not going to love you any less or treat you any different just because I have Harvey.” Damian looked away.  
“I know.”  
“It’s alright to be uncomfortable with change anyways,” said Bruce.   
“He’s a villain, we’re supposed to fight him,” said Damian.   
“Damian.. It’s not that simple. I know Jason thinks that it’s that simple, and that it can see that way, but a lot of these people we fight became this way because of horrible things that happened to them.. I think.. They can be helped. We can help people like Harvey recover.. Harvey was a very good man before he was Twoface.. I know you didn’t know him then but he was very important to me.” Damian sat there.   
“Did you love him then?” asked Damian.   
“Uhm.. Yes,” Bruce said, touching Harvey’s hair softly as he laid there on Bruce’s lap.   
“Did you love him more than my mother?” asked Damian, glaring at Harvey.  
“Damian.. Do you think your mother and I aren’t together because of Harvey?” asked Bruce.   
“Well there has to be some reason,” Damian said with a shrug. “I am more so upset that you weren’t around when I was younger and I kind of want someone to blame for it and Harvey is convenient.”   
“Damian.. I wish I could take all the credit for how smart you are,” Bruce said. “But I have no idea where this came from. Probably your mother.” Damian smiled slightly.   
“I hope he likes us,” said Damian. “He’ll have to grow on me.” Bruce smiled.   
“Alright Damian.” 

Fortunately, Dick had decided Harvey had already grown on him enough, especially when Harv tried to front and became instantly aware of the pain medications they were on and reacted slowly.   
“Heeyy…” he began slowly, glaring. “What’s the… Why the.. What’s…” Dick started filming him as soon as possible on his phone.   
“You alright there Harv?”  
“Why is… Who put… Who went and made the ceiling all swirly?”   
“Harv, you’re on pain meds.”  
“Whatda… Drugs? We did drugs? Who did us drugs- I didn’t do drugs,” Harv said, still laying on the couch and starting to worm across it, not using his arms.  
“Harv-” Bruce began, “It’s pain medication, remember your facial reconstruction-” Harv gasped.  
“Facial reconstruction? What… What happened to our face?” he touched the bandaids, then scrunching up his whole face. “One of you did this.. Mmm… I don’t trust you,” he said. It took Bruce a while to realize he was talking to a statue.   
“Harv, that’s not a person,” Bruce said, putting a hand on his back.   
“Stay back Bruce, it’s dangerous,” said Harv, getting closer to the statue.  
“I hope he fights it,” said Dick softly. Alfred walked over and wrestled Harv back to the couch, where he relented and stayed.   
“Alright.. Alright Alfred..” Harv settled down. Dick stopped filming and Bruce pulled him into his lap. Harv scrunched up his nose at Bruce again.  
“Harv, you’re going to hurt yourself if you keep doing that, your face is healing still.” He stopped.  
“When my face is healed I’m going to glare at you so much Bruce,” said Harv, touching Bruce’s face. Bruce rubbed his shoulder.  
“Sure thing Harv.” 

Oswald was watching a hilarious video of a somewhat reformed Twoface being loopy on pain medications. He snickered and tried to eat on his bed, his penguins wriggling up under his chin and trying to eat his food as well.   
“Gertrude! No! Get back!” he hissed. Eddie Jr managed to get a piece of his chicken. “Eddie how dare you!” he snapped.   
“I didn’t even do anything!” Edward exclaimed.   
“What? Edward how did you get in my house! Also I was talking to Eddie Jr!” Then Gertrude stole some chicken.  
“Why are you eating in your bed Oswald? That’s gross,” Edward said.   
“Why did you break into my house?”   
“Well I was in my own apartment,” Edward began, sitting on the side of Oswald’s bed. “And it was cold and I had no food, so I thought, well, riddle me this, Edward: where can you go where it’s warm and there’s always food?” He sat next to Oswald and stole a piece of his chicken.   
“Edward! Isn’t eating on my bed gross?”   
“Yeah well, I’m hungry and you’re warm,” he said, laying next to Oswald. Eddie Jr bit him again. “Agh! I can’t believe this, my own son-”  
“Good boy,” Oswald said, feeding him some chicken. 

It was finally time for the bandages to come off, and Bruce held Harvey’s shoulder tightly. The nurse removed the bandaids gently. Bruce looked down at his face. There was a small indention in his cheek, like a dimple, and under his eye the skin was slightly tighter. His lips were a little crooked and his nose wasn’t even. Bruce tensed a little. He had hoped it would be perfect- would Harvey notice if- Harvey was handed a mirror and looked at himself. Bruce held his breath.  
“Oh my God, Bruce..” Harvey just starred. “It’s perfect.. I didn’t think they could.. I thought that.. Oh my God, Bruce… Look at it…” Harvey touched the mirror. “It’s me…” Bruce held him close. “It’s me, Bruce.” He touched his face as if he couldn’t believe it. “I’m… me.” 

It was finally time. Everything looked perfect, Alfred made sure of it. He could tell Bruce was still internally picking at details, concerned by even the smallest imperfection, hyper vigilant of possible attacks from other members of his rogues gallery. Alfred knew it wasn’t coming. Harvey didn’t notice a single imperfection. Alfred smiled. He was looking only at Bruce. Dick was Bruce’s best man, and Jim Gordon was Harvey’s. A few of the more civil rogues had shown up for Harvey’s sake, but Tim and Jason kept an eye on them, besides it was only Cobblepott and Nygma. Alfred watched the man he raised since he was a little boy get married and smiled, his heart warming. Bruce was so happy. Alfred almost cried. He did his job. He sat next to Barbara, squeezing her hand to keep from crying. The thing that finally did make Alfred tear up, was that he realized the place he was sitting would generally be reserved for Bruce’s parents. 

It was Edward again. Bruce didn’t really love fighting him but it wasn’t that bad. He supposed Edward was one of the most irritating villains he had fought. Scarecrow was pretty bad, Selina was getting on his nerves lately, and Zsasz was awful, always killing people. He supposed Zsasz was the worst now. But things changed. He knew that there would always be crime, always be some villain, but Bruce hoped that by the time he retired as Batman and one of his sons took over the names would be different, the villains would be different. With everything that had happened, it started to seem possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also might do a Nygmobblepott spin off, what do you all think? Also considered doing a sequel/spinoff with Bruce and Harvey and their little family w/ the sons and the daughters


End file.
